<p>Jailed MLA of Quami Ekta Dal Mukhtar Ansari will withdraw his candidature from Varanasi against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, "to strengthen secular forces and avoid division of votes".<br /><br /></p>.<p>"A decision in this regard has been taken at the meeting of Quami Ekta Dal," party leader and Mukhtar's brother Afzal Ansari told PTI today.<br /><br />The decision has been taken "to strengthen secular forces and avoid division of votes", he added.<br /><br />"We will discuss our future course of action later. Now SP, BSP and AAP have to decide how to defeat Modi," he added.<br /><br />Mukhtar is currently lodged in Agra jail in the BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai murder case.<br /><br />Mukhter, who contested the last Lok Sabha polls on a BSP ticket against BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, lost the election by a small margin. Later he quit BSP and formed the Quami Ekta Dal. </p>
<p>Jailed MLA of Quami Ekta Dal Mukhtar Ansari will withdraw his candidature from Varanasi against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, "to strengthen secular forces and avoid division of votes".<br /><br /></p>.<p>"A decision in this regard has been taken at the meeting of Quami Ekta Dal," party leader and Mukhtar's brother Afzal Ansari told PTI today.<br /><br />The decision has been taken "to strengthen secular forces and avoid division of votes", he added.<br /><br />"We will discuss our future course of action later. Now SP, BSP and AAP have to decide how to defeat Modi," he added.<br /><br />Mukhtar is currently lodged in Agra jail in the BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai murder case.<br /><br />Mukhter, who contested the last Lok Sabha polls on a BSP ticket against BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, lost the election by a small margin. Later he quit BSP and formed the Quami Ekta Dal. </p>